Mission: Beat's Delivery Service

((Sorry for lateness. Somehow didn't notice that you'd posted.))

The second navi disintegrated as it was hit by the shogtun blast, the remaining cloud of data being carried through a beam of light back through the tunnel.

The hologram, meanwhile, simply said "Transfer complete," and disappeared. The silicon tunnel disappeared as well, leaving Beatnik outside of the gateway.
___

---Not you---
Infantry Recruit #238.SP: EJO
Infantry Recruit #239.SP: EJO
---You---
Beatnik: 85 HP


---Neutral Party---
ENA.NSE: Left

Small victory! GET: 600z
___

Unfortunately, Beatnik's reappearance attracted the attention of a group of Netpolice navis headed toward the server gateway area. One of them, presumably the leader, pointed her out as she reappeared, and his three squad members began running in her direction. The leader, meanwhile, summoned and mounted what appeared to be a skiff object. By distance alone, it was doubtful she'd get to the portal before being shot at or whisked away again, but...

"Psst, over here," came the whisper of another navi from behind a nearby billboard. From her location, Beatnik could tell it was a male navi dressed in a real world-styled outfit consisting of a white T-shirt and black pants and vest. He beckoned again for Beatnik to hide behind the billboard with him.
___

---Not you---
PoliceNavi Squad Leader: 250 HP
--Skiff: 50 HP
PoliceNavi A: 125 HP
PoliceNavi B: 125 HP
PoliceNavi C: 125 HP
(All navis one turn out of firing range)

---You---
Beatnik: 85 HP

---Third Party---
Strange navi behind billboard: ???

---Locations---
Billboard: 1 move to left
Server Gateway Entrance: 3 moves ahead
NetSquare Portal: 10 moves ahead

"Crud."

Beatnik skidded to a dead halt at the sight of the NetPolicemen who were waiting for her. She cast around helplessly, but could find no way of escape other than the way she'd come -- until she heard the voice from behind the billboard.

With absolutely no hesitation, Beatnik leapt behind it. "Sup, mang," she said. "You'd better be on my side or you're gettin' a Techno Waltz right to the teeth."

As soon as Beatnik made a move for the sign, the navi behind it threw a ball out behind her, which exploded into a wall of flames between them and the police navis. At the same time, a decoy appeared and, taking the form of a poor but acceptable copy of Beatnik, skated off into the gateway area. As the flames died down, the police navis stood around looking confused for a minute, then ran off into the gateway area after the copy, not noticing the two navis hiding behind the billboard.

"Well, that should buy us some time before your networking friend tosses them out or they realize they're supposed to be smarter than that," the navi said. "You're obviously doing something they don't like so yes, I'm on your side."

The navi stood up and glanced into the gateway area to make sure the netpolice navis weren't coming back yet. Satisfied that they weren't, he turned back to Beatnik. "The name's ReporterMan, if you care. You can probably leave now if you want, though if you don't mind answering a couple questions for an article I'm doing I can make sure they don't bother you later on."

((You have two options here. You can end the mission now and get a somewhat difficult random encounter with those guys and whatever backup they bring in your next battle 5, or you can entertain ReporterMan and not have to worry about that, at the expense of delaying the end of this thread for about three more posts.))

"Reporterman? Pretty lame." Beatnik scratched the back of her neck and peered out around the billboard. It was totally just a matter of time before they called in Bastion or somebody equally scary - if that even existed - to clean up the mess.

"We don't have time for this," Toni growled down the audio link.

"I've got all day." Beatnik looked back at Reporterman. "Fine, shoot. Whaddya wanna know?"

"Excellent, excellent," ReporterMan said, pulling out a notepad and pen. "Anyway, I've been hanging around this gateway a few weeks looking for stories, and you happened to drag one in, so I'd like to ask about that."

He cleared his throat. "That package you delivered to the robed guy and Holo-girl, what was it? I know you probably weren't allowed to look at it, but did they say anything about what it was for?" In a whisper, he added "And don't try to claim that wasn't you, you have the exact same coloring as the refrigerator and came out of Holo-girl's portal."

"Damn. We's gotta do somthin' 'bout dat colour scheme." Beatnik rolled her eyes. "Okay, uh, the package -- well, hell, I dunno. Was all locked up. Didn't get a look in it. One of 'em was talkin' 'bout repair data, though. Betcha it got sent here to fix whatever the Mafia broke."

"Who are you talking to?" Toni asked.

"Nobody. Go get a snack."

"Repair data? Hm...I see," ReporterMan said, jotting down a few notes. "Though I don't think the Mafia have broken anything recently that SciLabs would be contracted to fix. I may have to investigate this a bit further before I finish this article..."

The reporter navi suddenly looked back up from his notes, realizing he was talking to himself. "Right. Actually, I think I have a good idea what the delivery was for, but I'd like to be sure. Did either of those guys you delivered the package to say anything else? Mention any names or recent incidents or anything of the sort? Anything would be helpful."

"Yeah, mang. The packet went right up to the big man himself. Bastion." Beatnik shuddered a bit as she said the name. Just the thought of him made her want to get the heck out of dodge before he appeared around some corner.

"From what it sounds like, the Mafia snuck in and blew up somethin' important. They had to get that packet in on the sly to fix it. Don't ask me no more than than that, though. I just run the deliveries. Man, they'd better pay me out the ass for this. Am I free to go now before the rest of the Netpolice drop on my head or what?"

"Bastion, huh? I'll have to see if I can ask him about it, then," Reporterman mumbled to himself, scribbling notes on the pad before ending with a dramatic flourish. As he wrote, he momentarily forgot that Beatnik was there.

Until she asked if she could leave. "Oh, right. Yes, you're free to go. Check the BBSes, you may be quoted in an article soon. As for our police friends, I'll distract them, but you should be able to jack out without too much trouble."

As he said this, he stashed the notepad and peeked out from behind the sign. A second later, he vanished completely, but soon made his voice known a good distance away.

"Hey, coppers! I bet I might maybe possibly have something you'd be interesting in! Look, over here! Oh, I lied, it's just a shiny distraction object. A shiny distraction object that just shot your skiff!" A small explosion echoed across the area, and the dull distant roar of a skiff engine turned into a violent sputter. "And now, I away! Reporterman takes flight!"

From the edge of the sign, Beatnik could see him run off around the edge of the protected area, with the NetPolice navis in pursuit.

"Huh," Beatnik muttered as she watched Reporterman's final actions from behind the billboard. "Think I like this guy."

"Who's that?" Toni asked over the audio connection. Beatnik was really starting to get sick of her inane questions.

"Nobody. Just some moron who was tryin' to sell me somethin'."

"In the restricted areas of Scilab while there's an alert out for your arrest?"

"Yeah, shaddap, these jerkwads are persistent. Hit me with that stupid fridge thing, and be quick about it."

"Why--"

"Just do it, will you?"

Beatnik heard an hissy hmpf, and found herself in Beatfridge mode once more. With the NetPolice distracted by the shiny skiff-shooting thing, it wasn't much of a big deal for Beatfridge to roll across to the hyperlink and get the hell out of there.

[Thread end]